Not very much. I had a 10lb bow when I was a kid and beyond 20 yards you're not going to hurt much. I was 8 or 9 and my dad took me hunting with him. He let me bring along my bow, knowing I couldn't hurt anything.

Sure enough a young doe walks right up to where I'm sitting on a bucket.. (My dad was in a treestand above me) and I draw my little bow back.. fire and it lands right between the deer's front hoofs. It looks down at the arrow then looks at me like.. WTH? I draw another arrow, shoot and it hits a branch. Spooked the doe and it ran off.

Not very much. I had a 10lb bow when I was a kid and beyond 20 yards you're not going to hurt much. I was 8 or 9 and my dad took me hunting with him. He let me bring along my bow, knowing I couldn't hurt anything.

Sure enough a young doe walks right up to where I'm sitting on a bucket.. (My dad was in a treestand above me) and I draw my little bow back.. fire and it lands right between the deer's front hoofs. It looks down at the arrow then looks at me like.. WTH? I draw another arrow, shoot and it hits a branch. Spooked the doe and it ran off.

My dad laughs so much when he tells that story nowdays.

LOL

Great story...

What would you say is a decent bow (Draw weight, wood etc) for hunting, and what prices?

For some medium game, like small deer and antelope, 40-50# will do. I would consider this the minimum. If you want to hunt large mule-deer or elk, use a 65-75# bow.

Anything under 40# is only suitable for small game, like game-birds (on the ground) and rabbits. -Even for these I would recommend a 40#, you will get much better accuracy with one than you can with a lower powered one from my experience.

Edit:

A decent wooden recurve bow is usually 300-900 dollars.
You can find some 40-45# bows advertised for youths at 150-250 that are a good deal if that's all the power you need.

What would you say is a decent bow (Draw weight, wood etc) for hunting, and what prices?

Thank you for the great post.

Mjoelnir's post pretty much sums up the answer. I'm not sure why you want a recurve so badly, but in my experience a compound bow is better. Once you draw it back, the strain is a lot less and overall a compound bow tends to be more accurate because it's more consistant.

Draw weights are generally a personal preference. The English warbow could have a draw of up to 200lbs! And they fired pretty heavy arrows with a bodkin point. (Square sided anti-armor)

I hunt with a bear/jennings compound with an 80# draw,apache style (no fancy sights or stupid string clips) it will put down anything i hit with it. Check around at pawn shops and flea markets for your best prices some bows are really over priced if you go to a sporting goods store. On a side note kevlar will NOT stop an arrow.

Not very much. I had a 10lb bow when I was a kid and beyond 20 yards you're not going to hurt much. I was 8 or 9 and my dad took me hunting with him. He let me bring along my bow, knowing I couldn't hurt anything.

Sure enough a young doe walks right up to where I'm sitting on a bucket.. (My dad was in a treestand above me) and I draw my little bow back.. fire and it lands right between the deer's front hoofs. It looks down at the arrow then looks at me like.. WTH? I draw another arrow, shoot and it hits a branch. Spooked the doe and it ran off.

My dad laughs so much when he tells that story nowdays.

That is one of the greatest kid hunting stories I have ever heard, no wonder your dad LHAO when he tells it. It seemed like all my earliest hunting stories from my childhood ended in disaster as well. On my earliest hunting trips with my dad and uncle there were two things you could almost be sure of, One: I would come home with a snotty nose and red eyes, feeling sorry for myself and two: I wouldn't be bringing home my quarry.

That is one of the greatest kid hunting stories I have ever heard, no wonder your dad LHAO when he tells it. It seemed like all my earliest hunting stories from my childhood ended in disaster as well. On my earliest hunting trips with my dad and uncle there were two things you could almost be sure of, One: I would come home with a snotty nose and red eyes, feeling sorry for myself and two: I wouldn't be bringing home my quarry.

Hah!

I was impatient too. Dad had these candies called 'root beer barrels'. They're just a hard candy in a plastic wrapper. He'd drop them down to me one at a time as I sat there on my bucket. Other than rustling plastic, it kept me quiet.